Ryan Day was a head coach under duress when December hit.

On the last day of November, Ohio State came up woefully small in a stunning 13-10 home loss to a 6-5 Michigan team that limped into Columbus as a massive underdog. But rivalry games can be weird, and this one went horribly sideways for the Buckeyes, who were flat.

The program took a lot out of heat for the loss, and Day took the brunt of it. Fortunately for the embattled Buckeyes coach, the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff format gave his team a second chance to do what Ohio State fans expect the Buckeyes to do every season: compete for a national title.

So, Ohio State got the No. 8 seed in the Playoff, a first-round home matchup with Tennessee and, well, the rest is history. Three impressive wins later — over the Volunteers, top-seeded Oregon, and Texas — and Day is suddenly 1 victory away from winning his first national championship.

In the end, the Buckeyes’ horrific loss to their hated rival was a turning point.

“I think when you look at the guys that we have in our program, you see guys that are tough. You see guys that are resilient. You see guys who care about each other. You see guys that love being Buckeyes. You’re seeing two of them right here,” said Day after Friday night’s 28-14 semifinal victory over the Longhorns.

“The story of this team is yet to be told. No great accomplishments are ever achieved without going through adversity. That’s just the truth. And so, we’ve gone through our share of adversity. That’s life. I told those guys that. We’re not focused on what’s coming down the road, we’re not focused on what’s happened in the past. We’re focused on right now, and being right where we are. And at the end, we want to be able to tell the story of this team.”

As it turns out, the story of the 2024 Buckeyes was just beginning after that loss to Michigan, and now Day’s team will face Notre Dame in the title game on Jan. 20 with a chance for a glorious ending.